day ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY SEVEN

GOING VIRAL

In this time of virus the news and

The places I search for my muse

Vie for attention

Attention is a ragged thing

Torn by fear and disgust

For the time

I hear the sparring words of our sitting President

Pushing platitudes and racism

Pointing our attitudes toward despair

I cannot bear to

Leave my attention there

I turn to prayer

Read the Daily Office

Seeking breaths of fresh air

In a language long dead

That yet helps me to recall the anguish

Of recent plagues and plagues

Of centuries past

It is not the virus that haunts my thoughts

But the decay of democracy and decency

That makes me long to be free of America

To escape the pain I go

For a walk in the rain

Through the wetlands

By the Napa RIver

I maintain social distance from my neighbors

Converse with birds and watch

As the fowl glide indifferently by

--Charles Kruger